Un Lun Dun
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Un Lun Dun
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Narrated by:
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Karen Cass
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By:
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China Mieville
About this listen
The iron wheel began to spin, slowly at first, then faster and faster. The room grew darker. As the light lessened, so did the sound.
Deeba and Zanna stared at each other in wonder. The noise of the cars and vans and motorbikes outside grew tinny…. The wheel turned off all the cars and turned off all the lamps. It was turning off London. Zanna and Deeba are two girls leading ordinary lives, until they stumble into the world of UnLondun, an urban Wonderland where all the lost and broken things of London end up… and some of its lost and broken people too. Here, discarded umbrellas stalk with spidery menace, carnivorous giraffes roam the streets, and a jungle sprawls beyond the door of an ordinary house.
UnLondun is under siege by the sinister Smog and its stink-junkie slaves; it is a city awaiting its hero. Guided by a magic book that can’t quite get its facts straight, and pursued by Hemi the half-ghost boy, the girls set out to stop the poisonous cloud before it burns everything in its path. They are joined in their quest by a motley band of UnLondun locals, including Brokkenbroll, boss of the broken umbrellas, Obaday Fing, a couturier whose head is an enormous pincushion, and an empty milk carton called Curdle.
The world of UnLondun is populated by astonishing frights and delights that will thrill the imagination.
©2007 China Mieville (P)2012 Macmillan Digital AudioListeners also enjoyed...
Critic reviews
"Easily the equal of David Mitchell or Zadie Smith.... Miéville’s work is thrillingly imaginative, politically edgy, immensely witty and utterly unforgettable.... a bold and dynamic book." (Scotland on Sunday)
"An instant classic... the bizarre, the grotesque and slightly creepy." (Daily Telegraph)
"Full of delightful and horrifying inventions.... Un Lun Dun is clever and funny but scary, too" (Observer)
"This teeming, inventive tale of friendship, duty, courage and loyalty makes extraordinary use of the ordinary." (Sunday Times)
What listeners say about Un Lun Dun
Average customer ratingsReviews - Please select the tabs below to change the source of reviews.
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Overall3 out of 5 stars
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Performance5 out of 5 stars
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Story3 out of 5 stars
- D. Green
- 21-03-22
🏙️ 🌃 👻 📰 🗑️ ☂️ 🪄 💨 💥 👊
🌡️- ⭐ ⭐ ⭐
🙊 - 🎉🥰
📖 - 🏙️ 🌃 👻 📰 🗑️ ☂️ 🪄 💨 💥 👊 ⁉️
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Overall5 out of 5 stars
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Performance5 out of 5 stars
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Story5 out of 5 stars
- Wible Zoé
- 17-12-19
always a delightful story, wonderfully read
a great read for everyone, I would heartily recommend this audiobook. very well read too!
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1 person found this helpful
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Overall5 out of 5 stars
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Performance5 out of 5 stars
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Story5 out of 5 stars
- P. GILL
- 21-02-16
totally absorbed and always unexpected
Never knew where the story was going but loved the journey. A real insight into why the cloud is so scarey
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3 people found this helpful
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Overall3 out of 5 stars
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Performance3 out of 5 stars
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Story3 out of 5 stars
- Andrew
- 18-01-16
Unfinished
I found the narrator's accent for the main characters to be a little hard to swallow.
I changed to another book but was told by my brother it gets better later on.
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2 people found this helpful
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Overall4 out of 5 stars
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Performance4 out of 5 stars
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Story4 out of 5 stars
- Sarah
- 19-06-13
Teenagers in Neverwhere but uniquely appealing
Alterative Londons, I've read a few.
Neverwhere [Neil Gaiman] and Undone [BBC Radio Series] were world definers for me but but there are others such as Sixty-One Nails [Mike Shevdon] which whilst enjoyable fell slightly flat. China Mieville's Un Lun Dun belongs in the second category.
I once was a teenage girl, and I live in London. Perhaps this is one of the many books best enjoyed as a teenager but there are many parts that appeal to the adult listener. His Un Lun Dun is comprehensible in a way that the real London isn't. There are many comic moments, and a plethora of characters with a full-range of believability.
It's well-paced and his world is involving despite a few ideas that he didn't manage to sell. I would recommend this if you enjoy the genre or if you're a teenage girl since everyone loves being the main character ;).
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6 people found this helpful
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Overall3 out of 5 stars
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Performance2 out of 5 stars
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Story3 out of 5 stars
- Amazon Customer
- 02-01-17
Reads like a children's book
Found the narrator's tone either whingey or unsuitably lighthearted. It definitely broke the tension or immersion in parts of the story, really ruining it sometimes. Overall her tone would be better suited to a children's novel, where nothing is ever tense. Would definitely not purchase audiobooks with this narrator again. The novel itself is apparently a young adult book, but between the simplistic plot and the narrator I really did not find the novel engaging. I ended up not finishing it.
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1 person found this helpful
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Overall3 out of 5 stars
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Performance3 out of 5 stars
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Story3 out of 5 stars
- Paul D
- 22-02-14
Young reader book
Would you say that listening to this book was time well-spent? Why or why not?
Not really. It was full of Mieville's usual fabulous creations but I found it rather inconequential and even a little patronizing in style, clearly aimed at a younger audience. I did complete the listening, while walking, cycling, gardening . . . . . .
If you’ve listened to books by China Mieville before, how does this one compare?
I had to listen to the Perdido Street trilogy twice before I could fully appreciate them. No problem here. Creative and inventive but much simpler in construct and style.
What do you think the narrator could have done better?
She read well and perhaps was ideally suited to the target audience. Maybe its an age thing but I found her annoying, contributing to the feelling of immaturity and rather patronizing.
Did Un Lun Dun inspire you to do anything?
Listen to something else.
Any additional comments?
This book is very inventive and filled with fabulous creations. It was original and pre-dates Gaimens's Neverwhere and the children's London books of Aaronovitch which also cover a secret London underword. The mistake was probably mine and I really cannot judge a book aimed at a different audience. This is not the first time I have made this mistake and it would be useful if the audience was made clear in the book description. This is particularly true of fantasy where they are not easy to spot.
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2 people found this helpful
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Overall3 out of 5 stars
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Performance4 out of 5 stars
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Story3 out of 5 stars
- B B Johnson
- 10-11-15
Not as good as his other books
Not a patch on his other books - this one is written for teens. Word word word word
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2 people found this helpful
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Overall5 out of 5 stars
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Performance5 out of 5 stars
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Story5 out of 5 stars
- Christopher W.
- 17-03-21
Weird and Wonderful!
Un Lun Dun was the first of China Mieville's awesome books I read back in 2007 - now perfectly performed in all its wonderful, wild brilliant New Weirdness
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1 person found this helpful
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Overall2 out of 5 stars
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Performance3 out of 5 stars
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Story1 out of 5 stars
- Mr
- 04-10-15
For Children, not Young Adults
I'd like to preface by saying I'm a huge fan of China Mieville's Bas-Lag books. Perdido Street Station is one of my favourites, and Iron Council is not far behind.
However, Un-Lun-Dun was a poor listen. It's marketed as 'young adult', which is fine, but to me it read as children's book.
There are some interesting juxtapositions in this book between London and Un-Lun-Dun, some interesting images, but nothing really gripping. The plot was predictable, the characters (with the exception of Deeba) bland and two-dimensional, and the story's stakes were never really explained. The title of each chapter (each chapter must surely only be one page long) is announced at its beginning, and the title pretty much gives the game away.
If you live in London and have a child you'd like to interest in fantasy novels then this would be a great book to give them.
If you're over 16, it makes me sad to say, forget it.
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4 people found this helpful